BGP7730 Business Research Project

Assessment Guide

Semester Tri 2, 2017

ASSESSMENT 1 & 2: Research Project
The research project consists of three phases:
Research proposal;
Data collection and analysis; and
The final research report.

The assessment for the research project is broken down into two parts. Assessment 1 is a brief research proposal and Assessment
2 is the full research report including findings of the data collection and analysis. The assessment is to be undertaken in teams of
three (or four) students.

Assessment 1: Brief Proposal

Brief Proposal 10% Word Length: 1500 words Due: Week 4

Identify a research project relevant to your field of study. Your project could include the topic covered in your BMO6630 Business
Research Methods assessment. You should brainstorm ideas with your research team and discuss these with your workshop
leader.

In a research report, the early sections of the report contain background information on the organisation, the industry and relevant
information relevant to the research (question/objectives) at hand. A literature review is also undertaken to understand the key
constructs (i.e., theory) that should be examined which is relevant to the topic and guides the direction of your research.

For example, if your research objective was to (a) investigate what level of knowledge exists in the general community about diabetes; (b) to
examine the information needs of individuals; and (c) to understand how and where people currently get information about Diabetes, then your
literature review for your research would include:
How people acquire information about health and wellbeing (e.g., construct information search)
What is the role of education and information in healthy living (e.g., construct health education or something more specific)

In writing a literature review, start by finding general articles and then move to articles, which provide more specific and detailed
information on the constructs under investigation. For example, using the example above you may start by finding articles on
information search and health the then more specifically about Diabetes. The literature review provides the context for your
research and will take into account the broader issues relating to your topic.

Assessment Requirements:
Assessment 1 requires the research team to prepare a report that includes:
Introduction that provides background information on the topic
The research question/research objectives
A literature review, incorporating the relevant literature on the topic and identifying key constructs, with several (approx. 3)
appropriate research questions, hypotheses or propositions.

This assessment should be presented as a report (i.e., cover page, table of contents, headings, sub-headings and bibliography). A
minimum of 5 academic journal references is expected, journal articles are preferable over textbooks and trade magazines. We
are not expecting a detailed literature review at this stage but would like you to demonstrate the direction of your research so that
your workshop leader can help you refine your topic. A literature review should be your own work. If you make reference to
concepts, other authors have written or researched, you must acknowledge their work in text (i.e., make reference to their work),
using the Harvard referencing system (author, year of publication). The assessment criteria are on the following page.

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 ASSESSMENT 1: PROPOSAL - ASSESSMENT CRITERIA

FINAL GRADE
Satisfactory standard of work

Substantial work is required

Very good standard of work
Excellent standard of work

HD D C P N
Good standard of work

Weighting 80-100% 70-79% 60-69% 50-59% 0-49%

5 Executive Summary
Brief description of the research question and theories used in the research.
5 Table of Contents
Main headings and page numbers are included
20 Background
Background information on the research topic is provided.
Reasons for undertaking the research the appropriateness or importance of the topic to
management/society etc and the potential implications of the research.
10 Research Objectives
Clear research question and/or research objectives are presented that are consistent with
literature.
40 Literature Review
Literature review is a synthesis of the literature which has a coherent argument.
Constructs have been clearly identified, explained and are linked with the research topic.
Appropriate research questions/ hypotheses have been developed which are backed up by the
literature review.
5 Sources of Information
Literature review contains referenced material;
A consistent referencing style (Harvard system) has been adopted throughout the report;
The literature review contains mostly journal articles and a minimal number of other publications
(newspapers, magazines, textbooks);
A reasonable number of references have been used (approx. 5 10);
A list of references has been included and is presented using conventional method (refer to a
style manual).
15 Presentation
Presentation of the report is of a professional standard.
Attention to detail cover page, citations, spelling, grammar, headings and page numbers.
Clarity of expression.
The writing is clear and fluid.
The report has been submitted to Turnitin.

Note: Your proposal must be in MS Word format and submitted into VU Collaborate by the deadline.

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Assessment 2: Research Project 50%

Research Report 50% Word Length: 4000 words Due: Week 13

You are required to prepare a research report. The research report should include:
Title page;
Executive summary;
Table of contents;
Introduction (background to the research);
The research question and/or objectives;
The literature review including propositions and hypotheses;
Research design
o type of research undertaken,
o measurement and scaling techniques (if appropriate),
o sample design (make sure you take into account the population of interest),
o data collection methods, and
o plan of data analysis;
Results or findings (using the most appropriate statistics or themes);
Conclusions and Recommendations (with a focus on business strategies);
Appendices (e.g. include the questionnaire or interview guide or other relevant instrument and any detailed analysis).

It is expected that you will have addressed any feedback your workshop leader provided in Assessment 1. Refer to details
presented in the lecture for the structure and additional detail on report writing. The assessment criteria are presented on the
following page.

Note: Your research report must be in MS Word format and submitted into VU Collaborate by the deadline.

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 ASSESSMENT 2: RESEARCH REPORT - ASSESSMENT CRITERIA

FINAL GRADE

Satisfactory standard of work

Substantial work is required

Very good standard of work
Excellent standard of work

HD D C P N
Good standard of work
80-100% 70-79% 60-69% 50-59% 0-49%

Weighting

5 Executive Summary
Clear and concise summary. Includes details of problem definition, research design, major results, conclusions
and recommendations.
5 Introduction
Background on the research topic.
Reasons for undertaking the research (i.e., gap in previous research), the appropriateness or importance of the
topic to the organisation/business, and the implications of the research.
2.5 Research Objectives
Clear research question and research objectives.
7.5 Literature Review
Literature review is a synthesis of the literature which has a coherent argument.
Constructs have been clearly identified, explained and are linked with the research topic.
An analytical model has been developed (optional);
Appropriate research questions/ hypotheses have been developed which are backed up by the literature
review.
5 Sources of Information
Literature review contains referenced material;
Appropriate referencing style (Harvard system) has been adopted throughout the report;
The literature review contains mostly journal articles and a minimal number of other publications (newspapers,
magazines, textbooks);
A reasonable number of sources have been used (approx. 5 10);
A list of references has been included.
10 Research Design
Clear information on the research design has been presented; information used; scales used; questionnaire
development; and description of the data collection method have been clearly presented.
Arguments should be put forward for the chosen technique(s).
10 Sampling
Include the definition of the target population, sampling techniques used, and sample size.
Arguments for the chosen sampling technique and the representativeness of the sample.
30 Results or Findings
Results are linked to hypotheses/ research objectives.
Results are clearly presented.
Findings are interpreted thoroughly.
2.5 Analysis
Analysis is grounded on data/information.
2.5 Limitations and Caveats
Weaknesses have been identified but are not overly negative.
Defend the choices/techniques used in the study.
10 Discussion/Conclusion
A quality discussion on the link between the constructs is presented.
Discussion addresses the research objectives.
Conclusions should be supported by results (do not introduce any new concepts).
Suggestions for future research could be made.
5 Recommendations
Clear and feasible recommendations are made.
Strategies for business (or other relevant entity/stakeholders) are recommended resulting from this research.
5 Report form
Report format has been adopted (e.g., inclusion of the title page, table of contents, list of
graphs/tables/appendices (if applicable), reference list and appendices (copy of questionnaire/interview guide
and detailed analysis)).
General presentation, spelling, and grammar are of an excellent business report standard.
The report has been submitted to Turnitin.

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ASSESSMENT 3: MULTI-MEDIA PRESENTATION 20%

Duration: 15 minutes
Scheduled: Week 12

Your team is required to:

1. Present your project to a panel comprising representatives drawn from Industry and/or the College of Business academic
staff. Your seminar facilitator will be present.
2. Participate in a question and answer session with your panel.

Your team's presentation will be a maximum of 15 minutes. The Question and Answer discussion will be a minimum of 5 minutes.

The Panel presentation begins with a summary presentation of your project to the academic or industry panel. This presentation
runs for 15 minutes. You can use PowerPoint and/or handouts. Whatever you choose to use, and however you choose to get the
message across in this presentation it is essential to consider the following points:
1. Determine the needs of your audience (what is their level of knowledge about the topic and why should they listen to your
presentation).
2. What are you trying to achieve in the presentation?
3. What role each team member takes in the presentation (presentation objectives)?
4. Plan what you need to do to achieve a convincing, inspiring, and excellent professional presentation.
5. If you use slides design them carefully. Make sure they are not too busy and dont contain too much text. Statistical
tables should be easy to read.
6. Be conscious of the quality of any printed documents you give the panel.
7. Dress appropriately for a professional presentation.

The second part of the Industry Panel Presentation is a question and answer session with the industry panel where you will have
the opportunity to discuss your project IN DETAIL. In preparing for this session you need to be aware that:
1. All team members will be required to understand all aspects of the project.
2. You will be able to provide additional supporting materials to the Panel to support both your presentation and your team
responses to questions
3. Your capacity to respond to questions, to respond to criticism, and to substantiate your claims with evidence will be
evaluated and forms an integral part of the assessment.

Please Note: All team members must participate in the Panel Presentation in some capacity. For example, if a team member has
not participated in the presentation they must take on a major role in the question and answer session.

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ASSESSMENT 3 Presentation Marking Criteria

Facilitator: Campus: Day: Time: Present

1 ID Name

2 ID Name

3 ID Name

4 ID Name

5Excellent 4-Very Good 3-Acceptable 2-Not at required level 1- Not Exhibited/Poor

CONTENT / 25
5 4 3 2 1 Comments
Specific nature of project is clear and succinctly explained
Demonstrates a clear understanding of the relevant industry/
background to the research
Findings are clear and succinctly explained
Research conclusions and recommendations are consistent with
both project objectives and research and analysis findings
Demonstrate understanding of the research process
PRESENTATION & DISCUSSION /35
Overall the presentation has a strong visual impact. i.e.,
presentation materials (including slides), team presentation and
other visual aids.
The presentation has a logical flow and includes only relevant
information and data as related to the objectives of the
presentation.
The presentation has been tailored appropriately to the audience.
Engages and involves audience through the use of anecdotes,
interesting facts, audience participation, relevant discussion etc.
The purpose of the presentation is made clear and project
objectives are introduced to provide appropriate background and
context.
Teamwork is evident throughout the presentation /Q&A and each
team member contributes equally to the presentation / Q&A
All team members respond to questions clearly, articulately and
with an appropriate level of knowledge and relevancy.
Total
Comments: TEAM TOTAL (TT) / 60
TEAM MARK:
Mark - /20 (TT / 3 = Team Mark)

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ASSESSMENT 4: REFLECTIVE JOURNAL 20%
Word Length: 500 plus appendices
Due: Week 13
Objective of the Assessment

The objective of the reflective journal is record your ideas, personal thoughts and experience with the research process and how
you interacted with other group members to enable you gain insights on the learning process and experiences with collaborative
learning. You are expected to think more deeply, to challenge your old way of thinking with new knowledge and to reflect on how
the unit of study may have changed you as a learner or individual.

This assessment consists of two parts:

Weekly journal entries

Reflective Journal

Instructions:
Weekly Journal entries
Each week you should write up your experiences in working on the project and group effectiveness.
Was it difficult implementing the research?
What dilemmas did you face in terms of deciding on research topic/techniques?
What incidents went well or badly?
How did the group go about tackling the project?
Were there any problems within the group (meeting times, different opinions)?
How did you feel? How did you handle various situations?
Each journal entry should explore what you have learnt about research and any issues/problems that arise and how you plan
to deal with them. It can also be used as a to do list.
Your type-written journal should have an entry for each week. Clear headings should identify the week. Each entry should be
no more than 100 words. You can use expanded dot point for this section.

Reflective Journal
At the end of the semester provide an overview of 500 words which draws on your journal to highlight your experience with
undertaking research and working in a team. The overview should elaborate on your personal learning and reflections for
future project work (how would you do things next time?).

MARKING RUBRICS Excellent Proficient Average Poor Incomplete

Reflections Ability to proficiently
Ability to integrate demonstrate reflection and deep
learning into real-world thinking of acquired knowledge
experiences and analyse and concepts, and integrate
issues with a critical them into different issues from
attitude wide range of perspectives (e.g.
different contexts, cultures,
disciplines etc.); creative
solutions and critical thinking
skills demonstrated in the
writing; and the complexities
involved in working with peers.
(12 marks)
Presentation Writing is well-focused;
Articulation and arguments or perspectives are
organization of ideas and precisely defined and explained;
perspectives coherent flow in developing an
insightful idea demonstrated
(4 marks)
Completeness Concrete connections between
Incorporation of the journal entries into a whole;
journal entries into a demonstrating clear steps in the
whole, demonstration of developmental learning process
the learning process (4 marks)
Adapted from Chan C.(2009) Assessment: Reflective Journal, Assessment Resources@HKU, University of Hong Kong [http://ar.cetl.hku.hk]: Available: Accessed: 28 March 2015
Showing satisfactory Includes description of Only includes mere No reflections or
ability to relate acquired events, and a little further descriptions of theoretical unable to
knowledge to previous consideration behind the knowledge; no reflection is integrate
experiences; events using a relatively demonstrated beyond the learning.
demonstrating attempt to descriptive style of descriptions; no reference (0 marks)
analyse the issues from language; no evidence of is made about peers.
a number of different using multiple perspectives (3 marks)
perspectives; and the in analysing the issues;
complexities involved in little reference is made
working with peers. about peers.
(9 marks) (6 marks)
Arguments or Arguments or perspectives Do not show any original Disorganised
perspectives are clearly are vaguely mentioned; the thinking or perspectives; thoughts.
stated; organized flow in writing lacked an organised chaotic in organization and (0 marks)
writing but not deep flow and the ideas were presentation of ideas
enough to be very hard to follow (1 mark)
insightful (2 marks)
(3 marks)
Journal entries can be Weak connections between No connections between Did not complete
generally connected; still journal entries; journal entries; the entries journal entries.
able to observe how the development gained from are mere descriptions of (0 marks)
student develops during the learning process is events rather than showing
the learning process hardly observed a sequence of learning
(3 marks) (2 marks) steps
(1 mark)

Note: Your reflective journal must be in MS Word format and submitted into VU Collaborate by the deadline.
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